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Fanfiction - How it can be fantastic for your classroom

By Colin Davitt


     I heard about this idea and was intrigued.  The whole idea of helping students become better writers is pretty simple.  They need to write and they need meaningful feedback to become strong writers.  Fanfiction has the ability to address both of those key points.   (I know I am over simplifying the process just a little.)  



What is fanfiction?
     Have you ever want to know more about a certain character in a book?  Has a book ever left you hanging and wanting more?  So many books with so many unanswered questions!  This is where the idea of fanfiction comes into play.  A fan of a particular book, series or character picks up where they believe the author left off.  They will create a new work of fiction based upon what they have read.  (It seems to work well if the student author really loves the book/series/character they are writing about.)

Fanfiction Examples


These examples appear to be very polished.  I would assume there would be many revisions over time to correct errors and add story elements that might be missing.  That is no different than a traditional writing piece.

Getting Started Ideas

Where will you have your students writing?  It should be a place the kids write and edit over time.  The other necessity is the place they write must visible to the public.

blogger - All students will have an account.  It will be easy for the students to create a post and share it with the class.
pbworks - The examples above used pbworks.  The main advantage is this site allows all the writing to be in one simple place.  (We do have a district pbworks account.  Let us know if you would like us to set up an account for your class.)

I am sure there are many other options.  What other systems are we missing?
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